In the Forest of Dreams

 Playing with color . . .

As Our Democracy Slips Away. . .

 If you are concerned about the current state of affairs in our country, it's past time to make your voice heard.

It's very easy to email your congress person. Phone calls are good, showing up at rallies is too. (But be careful, for obvious reasons.)

Silence is complicity.

 

Dear Sirs

 Where do you stand? With your president who calls the late Renee Nicole Good a professional agitator and claims (falsely) that she ran over an ICE agent who is now in hospital? Or with those of us who watched the video of the incident and saw the cold-blooded murder of a mother surrounded by masked thugs, unwilling to get out of her car, and attempting to comply with shouted orders to move?

I call for the arrest of the shooter, the impeachment of Noem, and the dissolution of the domestic terrorist organization known as ICE.

And the impeachment of Trump and Hegseth for their unauthorized war on Venezuela.

Where do you stand?

The Kittehs Say Hi

At last The Woman remembered us and took a few pictures. 

Hmmph! She takes pictures of us but paints a dog's portrait.

I, for one, would be an excellent subject for a painting. 

I can't say the same for Cory who is imitating a snail.

 

Ingrained

                                               

It's a memoir incorporating fine nature writing and reflections on the craft of woodworking, but I devoured it as if it were a novel--the ticking clock of financial ruin hangs over the story of Robinson's attempt to make a living as a bespoke furniture maker.

Robinson's reverence for wood is familiar to me, as the wife of a woodworker who reacts to painting most wood as a parent would react to dipping their child in acid. 

I too learned to appreciate the hidden beauty in wood during a stint at our wood splitter. It was like a treasure hunt--each chunk split might reveal some hidden beauty.

I loved the book for its attention to nature, to the camaraderie of a working shop, to the relationship between father and son, husband and wife, and to the importance of hand-crafted, one of a kind work in this increasingly homogenized world.

Highly recommended.

You can check out Robinson's work HERE and be sure not to miss his father's amazing wood carvings HERE.

Sometimes I'm Tempted

 Sometimes I would really like to crawl into a blanket fort like Josie and not come out till this regime is gone . . .

But, as President Nixon said, that would be wrong.

Dear Sirs

                            

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?  I find myself a  citizen of a rogue nation, headed by a power-mad egomaniac who is unchecked by a do-nothing Congress of bobbleheads.

Why is the US invading another country and kidnapping a head of state? The excuse of drug-trafficking is hollow, considering that five weeks ago Trump pardoned the ex-president of Honduras who had been convicted of . . . drug trafficking. Is it the oil? Or a diversion from the STILL unreleased UNREDACTED Epstein Files?  And a diversion from the president's criminal role in the January 6 insurrection. I say all of the above.

Yes, Maduro was a brutal ruler--but so are Putin, Orban, Lukashenko, and Kim Jong Un-- and our own Dear Leader admires them--even rolls out the red carpet for his buddy Putin. 

Our country has a bad history of bringing about regime change in sovereign nations in order to further the interests of big business--whether it's oil or sugar or bananas or rare earths, or pineapples-- only to replace a bad leader with a worse.

Acting against international law and against our Constitution (which both he and you swore to uphold,) Trump has destroyed international trust in the US and we have become a pariah among nations.

This madman--and his Cabinet of war criminals should be impeached forthwith. Where are the checks and balances? And what is this talk of "running Venezuela," when this regime is busy running the USA into the ground?

Have you forgotten the ordinary American people who continue to see prices rise, regulatory bodies neutered, social services cut or lost, and federal funding weaponized?

I look forward to midterm elections and re-building Congress to its traditional role. And hope to see justice roll down like mighty waters on this regime and its cowardly enablers.

Yours very truly

Breathe

 

Of Course

 Of course we ate black-eyed peas, collard greens, cornbread, and pork on New Year's Day. Do I really believe that ritual meal will bring luck and money to us in the coming year?

Not really. 

But, like walking barefoot in the first snow, getting wet in the first rain of May, getting the tree out of the house before the New Year, throwing a pinch of salt over my left shoulder if I spill salt, or touching wood to avert a bad outcome, I do these things because they're tradition and they put me in touch with my ancestors--especially my maternal grandmother.

We had a busy day on Wednesday and we could have left the tree up -- but I confess I felt relieved when John hauled it out the door.

My grandmother would be proud.

Happy New Year (RabbitRabbit) !

 

Josie And Her Dad Are into D & D

My dad is teaching me to play Dungeons and Dragons. We are planning our game. I drew a picture of my character. She is a Half-Elf who wants to learn to be a witch--a good witch, of course. She goes on a quest to learn magic. There are dragons.

I also drew a picture of the villain. See all the markers I got for Christmas. There are 80 of them!

I used a book Sandy sent me on How to Draw. I traced the pictures and colored them and cut them out and glued them to popsicle  sticks to make puppets. There are a lot of them!

Another thing I got for Christmas was some air dry clay. You make stuff and it dries in a few days. I am working on a playground with a swing and a slide and a tunnel slide.

This Christmas was The Best!

                 

Deep Dark Amaryllis

 

Jujubes

                                           

When I was growing up, the word jujubes meant  

 

 a fruit-shaped gummy candy, primarily sold in

 movie theaters.

Eventually I learned from reading that jujubes were a date-like dried fruit.

This year I put jujubes (the real ones) on my wish list and lo and behold!

                                       

They are sweetish and dry, not sticky like real dates. Because, as a little internet investigation proved, though they are sometimes called red dates or Chinese dates, they aren't dates at all but the dried iteration of a small, apple-like fruit (which can also be eaten fresh.)

I find them quite tasty. And love trying something new. 

Maybe dragon fruit is next. It's in our local grocery but I've been put off by the price. Hey, you only live once . . .